Avni Yıldırım, the Turkish super middleweight contender has called out Conor Mcgregor over his comments towards a possible Manny Pacquiao fight, stating that the UFC icon is “arrogant and ignorant” for thinking he can take down the legendary Filipino boxer.
Recently, Conor McGregor revealed that a boxing match with WBA (Super) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao aka “PacMan” has been set for 2021, which will mark the former two-division champion’s return as a boxer since facing Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
Despite having a 0-1 in is pro boxing career, Conor was pretty confident about the fight, believing that he has a chance against Pacquiao in the squared circle.
However, Yıldırım begs to differ.
A former WBC International super middleweight champion, mandatory challenger Avni Yıldırım (21–2, 12 KOs) is preparing his upcoming title fight against WBC and WBA (Super), super middleweight titleholder Canelo Álvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) on 27th February.
However, recently after UFC 257 where Conor faced defeat against Dustin Poirier, Yıldırım referred to the Irish mixed martial artist’s comments regarding fighting Manny Pacquiao.
I don‘t see Conor McGregor as a boxer: Yıldırım
In an interview with Sun Sport, Yıldırım asserted that shifting from one sport to another is not as easy as it sounds, and taking on an eight division champion like Manny is no walk in the park for Conor Mcgregor.
“Should basketball teams start playing football? Would you watch a baseball team playing hockey?” Yıldırım said in the interview, “It‘s two different sports. If somebody wants to turn from one sport to the other that‘s fine. But it‘s surely not easy to do.”
“We are professionals at what we do. We have done it for years – training, fighting – to get to the level where we are. To believe that you can just enter a sport and beat somebody who has done it his whole life is arrogant and ignorant to say the least.“
“I think McGregor has been a big star at UFC but I don‘t see him as a boxer. He clearly lost to Mayweather and I don‘t understand why he should have the desire to lose to Pacquiao. If they want to fight, let them fight. No problem. Would I watch it? I don‘t think so,” the 29-year-old Turk added.
